ASU v. FSU

While the Arizona State men cruised to another victory at home, the women squeaked by with just five points keeping them afloat over the visiting Florida State Seminoles.

On the men’s side, several Sun Devils pulled off double wins. Cameron Craigswam to wins in the 200 free (1:37.22) and the 100 free (43.98), with freshman Grant Housein tow in the 200 (1:37.97). Zachary Potifound his way to the wall first in the 100 back (48.00) and 200 back (1:45.56), winning the latter by almost five seconds. Senior Christian Lorenztook care of the breaststroke events, winning the 100 (55.05) and 200 (2:00.12). Lorenz had a strong relay split on the opening 400 medley relay, splitting a 53.77 as the Sun Devils A and B relays went 1-2 over FSU’s A.

Ben Olszewski was yet another double winner for ASU, sweeping the distance events. The sophomore was 9:20.96 in the 1000 and 4:32.13 in the 500.

Florida State’s sole individual win was at the hands of Chad Mylin, who rocked a 20.04 for the 50 free win. The Seminoles also won the 200 free relay, with Mylin leading off in 19.93.

The women’s meet was tight, and Silja Kansakoski came through big for the Sun Devils with tight wins over FSU’s Natalie Pierce. Kansakoski was 1:02.37 in the 100 and 2:15.31, winning both races by under three tenths.

ASU had a couple of double winners in addition to Kansakoski. Freshmen Caitlyn Wilson and Emma Nordin hit the wall first in their respective events. Wilson took the 1000 (10:10.11) and the 200 fly (2:04.99), while Nordin won the 200 free (1:51.12) and 500 free (4:56.28). ASU had a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the 500 free, and freshman Erica Laningwas 2nd in 4:56.61.

The Seminoles hit back with sprint free and backstroke sweeps, though. Maddie Cohen was 55.20 as FSU went 1-2 in the 100 back, while Shelly Drozda went 1:59.61 to claim the 200 back. Lexi Smith was 23.37 to win the 50 free and 50.67 to take the 100 free, stealing the win from Katherine Wagner (23.53/50.70).

ASU went 1-2 in the 200 IM with Marlies Ross (2:02.24) and Chloe Isleta (2:02.68), though FSU proceeded to smack down a 1-2 200 free relay finish. The Seminoles also took the opening 400 medley relay, but ASU got through at the end with the narrow win.

PRESS RELEASE – ASU:

TEMPE, Ariz. – In a tightly contested women’s race that ultimately came down to the wire, the Sun Devils (2-0) earned the upset, 152.5-147.5 over No. 23 Florida State, while the No. 8 ASU men (2-0) earned a convincing victory over the No. 20 Seminoles, 176-124.

“I felt like when we needed to step up, we did,” said head swim coach Bob Bowman. “We still have a lot of things to improve on, but, in general, the effort was great over the last two days. The goal is always to swim a little better each week and we want to show progress in certain areas. We need to come back next week and show progress in the technical areas in terms of starts. This was a very tight turnaround and I thought we raced really tough today. I’m very proud of them.”

ASU won the first four individual events, highlighted by Ben Olszewski, who continued Friday’s winning ways with a 1000 free win by almost 14 seconds. In the next event, the women’s 200 free, freshman Emma Nordin came from behind to earn a close victory.

In an event unusual to regular season competition, the diving teams competed in the platform dive to start the meet, followed by a men’s 3-meter and a women’s 1-meter.

Sun Devils won three of four diving events, with two of the top three in three of the four events hailing from Arizona State, showing the Sun Devil divers’ increasing depth.

“It was a good opportunity for us, because Florida State has some very good divers,” said head diving coach Mark Bradshaw. “As it turned out, everyone did a fantastic job and it was a great day weather-wise. Today was also unique in that we competed platform in a dual meet, which doesn’t happen too often.”

Mara Aiacoboae earned her second win of the weekend, this time in the platform dive, while Youssef Selim earned his third win of the weekend, this time in the 3-meter dive.

The Sun Devils have back-to-back meets once again next weekend, hosting No. 11/7 USC on Friday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. and No. 21 UCLA on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. Both meets at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center are free to the public.